Chapter 9 – Interruptions

About an hour later, Mel was still trying to find Radek. She had been to his quarters, her quarters, his lab, her lab, and Ike. Now she was on her way back to Command and the Gate Room when she heard her earpiece gently buzz. She pressed it to activate it. "Hayden here."

"Doctor Hayden, its Elizabeth Weir. Can you come to my office?"

"I was already on my way up there. I'll be five minutes." Mel stepped up the pace.

Only three minutes had gone by when Mel knocked at Elizabeth's door. "Come on in, Melody."

"Is something wrong?" Mel's curiosity came out as she sat down.

"Actually yes. We received a call from the Genii. Apparently they are having some meteorological problems."

"Something I can help with?"

"Yes. It seems that some of their weather prediction equipment has stopped working. We have several devices that would be compatible with their level of technology, and you are familiar with the programming on those devices. Radek asked that you be assigned to his team to set up this equipment."

"I've been trying to find him for the last hour."

Elizabeth smiled. "He's already on the Genii homeworld getting things set up for transferring the equipment. I understand Ladon was eager to get started with this equipment."

Another hour goes by….

Melody found herself coming out the Genii end of the wormhole. That is still weird every time I've done it! And I've been on a lot of missions back on Earth. She looked up and saw Radek in the distance, with a man she recognized from security logs as Ladon, the current leader of the Genii.

"Melody, I would like you to meet Ladon. Ladon, this is Doctor Melody Hayden, one of Atlantis' top oceanographers." Radek made the introduction after Mel joined the two men.

"I am very pleased to meet you, Doctor Hayden. Zelenka has been singing your praises for the last hour." Ladon took Mel's offered hand with a firm grip.

Mel cast a questioning look at Radek, wondering how much he had told the leader. When he responded by tilting his head and smiling at her, she knew that he had only told the leader of her professional accomplishments. "I have heard a great deal about you also."

"I noticed a look between the two of you. Are you married?" Ladon asked gently.

"Yes, we are." Radek's glance to Mel challenged her to refute that fact.

"Doctor Weir said that you and your scientists were eager to start learning on our equipment." Mel shot an I'll talk to you later look at Radek.

A few hours later….

Radek and Melody were shown to the small suite of rooms that they were to use during their stay on the Genii homeworld. The officer who had shown them there left with only a nod and a smile, so now Mel and Radek were alone for the first time since the lab.

Radek laid his bags down with a heavy sigh. "I wonder what they left us for snacks."

"Probably not Cheetos and Rocky Road ice cream," Mel smiled at Radek's unusual combination of favorites.

Radek laughed at that. "And probably no cheesecake or devil's food cake."

They gravitated towards each other, and fell into a deep bear hug. Mel remembered the days when this was a regular occurrence. "Seem familiar?"

Radek chuckled. "I vaguely recall standing like this every day many years ago."

Mel was the first to break away. "I suppose we need to discuss what is going to happen from here."

Radek went over to cupboards and grabbed out some of the foodstuff and a bottle of wine. "No sense planning out our future on empty stomachs."

Mel sighed and smiled. "You always had to be fed first."

Radek divided up the food and poured the wine into small glasses that were on the table. "So what are we going to do?"